


i want to fall in love with the stars in your eyes

by huntressed



Category: Constantine (TV), Constantine: The Hellblazer (Comics), Justice League Dark (Comics)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, kind of a mixture of all the feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-19
Updated: 2018-02-19
Packaged: 2019-03-21 06:51:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13735458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/huntressed/pseuds/huntressed
Summary: Constantine wants to live long, but he does not want to live long enough to see anyone take away Zatanna Zatara’s light away from her , or to live long enough where he exists in a world without Zatanna.





	i want to fall in love with the stars in your eyes

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from Tonight You're Perfect by New Politics.

**i want to fall in love with the stars in your eyes.**

 

**i.**

The moment John Constantine sets his eyes on Zatanna, he’s mesmerized by the way she carries herself with ease. The way she smiles and that little twinkle in her eyes as she engages with the crowd. If he wasn’t such a dapper gentleman who had to maintain a reputation, he’d probably be spitting out his drink on the floor because, wow, she’s a fucking goddess and he’s captivated by every single move she makes.

            Zatanna’s act is forty minutes long. And for that whole forty minutes, Constantine never tried to look at anyone, or anything else. All he could ever see was her. A strange feeling settles in the pit of his stomach which he drowns with a shot of alcohol.

            For a moment, he forgets that he’s there to see Nick Necro and ask him to teach him the ways of the occult. There are so much more important things to do than swoon over some girl he’ll probably never see again. Until of course, the girl just so happens to be Nick Necro’s girlfriend. _Way to fuck me over, world,_ he thinks as he approaches Nick Necro and maybe he begs for Nick to take him in as his student. Constantine wants to learn from the best, and Nick has got to be the master of magic in any place possible.

            It disappoints John that Nick doesn’t want to waste his time teaching some ‘random British guy’, and somehow it fucks him over the head a little when he realizes that this guy’s skilled but maybe a little too arrogant for John’s liking.

            That doesn’t stop him though, as he smashes his pint of beer towards the man about to stab Nick.

            The night ends with Nick finally agreeing to take him under his wing for just a single night. Little does Constantine know that his days with Nick (and Zatanna) will increase in number after this encounter.

 

**ii.**

Zatanna is bright, he concludes in the middle of the day as he watches her sleep. Nick’s gone for the day, thus, leaving John and Zatanna alone in his apartment in New York City. While he’s aware that there are more things he could do other than to stare at a sleeping magician, he continues anyway, because to him Zatanna is worth all the time in the world.

            Of course he wouldn’t tell that to Nick, or Zee, for that matter. This is too much of a risk to take, and besides, feelings are kind of bull when it comes to the world of magic. There’s no time to think of hurt feelings when there are spells to be cast and consequences to deal with. His lengthy days with Nick and Zatanna had proven that.

            The light of the sun coming from the window hits her face just enough to create little shadows cast by the way her hands and face connected. Constantine etches that image in his mind. If he’s going to remember something so vividly for the rest of his life, it would be this very moment.

            Zatanna wakes and she catches John’s eyes.

            “How long have you been staring?” She asks, eyebrows raised with speculation.

            “Not long. You’ve got drool all over the side of your mouth, love.” He shrugs and goes back to poring over one of Nick’s books. Zatanna huffs and he chuckles, if only she knew.

 

**iii.**

They fall for each other, ultimately betraying Nick and breaking their coven of three. While Zatanna and John doesn’t mean for any of that to happen, the intention does not matter in Nick’s eyes. To him, they owe him their knowledge, their everything, and now they’ve thrown it all to waste. Constantine tells Zatanna that it isn’t their fault, Zatanna believes him. Although he knows that she blames herself for what had happened.

            “He changed like some madman, all he’s ever thinking about is those books.” Zatanna sighs while they were walking around Central Park.

            “That’s not our fault anymore, love,” Constantine replies, hoping that it takes away even the tiniest bit of her guilt that she’s carrying with her.

            Nick’s words hang between them, most especially when he said that the time will come where John will betray Zatanna too. It doesn’t take a genius to know that the brightest and most beautiful girl standing beside him was thinking about those very words. John’s not daft. If he’s Zatanna, he would probably be thinking of the same thing, too.

            Their eyes meet again, and Zatanna smiles, although it was faint – unlike the multitude of smiles she had offered him before where all she exudes is radiance and glow. “He won’t bother us now.”

            He smiles back, despite feeling that her sentence is unfinished.

 

**iv.**

He looks Zatanna in the eye as Nick places a knife to his throat. In that moment, he understands fear, not for his own life, but for hers. John Constantine wants to live long, but not long enough to see anyone take Zatanna’s light away from her. He tells Nick how he talks to much and how he’d forgotten to search John’s pockets.

            Swiftly, he grabbed his lighter from his pocket and blasted flames directly to Nick’s face. He doesn’t need to look to know that Zatanna’s escaped her captors – she’s fucking Zatanna – she’s an unstoppable force of nature that’s so pure and bright that it’s impossible to even try and take her away from this world. He understands pride now, pride in the sense that he’s very proud of this woman who handles herself so beautifully.

            Even until now, he’s still in awe of her. Zatanna screams about a cultist preparing to throw a knife at John, in a split second, he grabs Nick and uses him as a human shield. The knife hits Nick in such a fatal area that he’s now withering away, soul being sucked to hell by the portal of his own creation.

            Nick begs for help, and he reminds John that magic always comes with a price.

            John hopes that the price will never have to be Zatanna.

  **v.**

It’s been years since Nick’s death, and his history with Zatanna remains like that, a history. There’s too much between them over the years that they just… didn’t work. While John remained to be the bastard that he is with one foot in hell, his feelings for Zatanna only changed ever so slightly. She still has the stars in her eyes and she still shines bright whenever fates align and they cross paths. He just hopes that she feels the same too.

            Madame Xanadu assembles them into a team. A team filled with people who more or less hate John to a fault. Hell even Zatanna hates him, and frankly he doesn’t really care about any of the other people in the room, except of course, Zatanna. She’s the only exception now, isn’t she?

            Their eyes meet yet again, in a room filled with people who hate him. Zatanna hates him, and he hopes that she doesn’t. But then their feelings and their history disguises itself into bickering and mutual dislike that he forgets how they even ended in the first place.

 

**vi.**

He wakes up to a sleeping Zatanna beside him. She looks so peaceful and serene that he feels as though he could stay in this moment forever. The mental image of Zatanna sleeping in Necro’s apartment comes into mind; he runs his fingers over her cheekbones as he reminisces. He knows full well that this is all just a dream that somewhere out there, Zatanna’s being held captive by god knows who.

            He holds on to the thought that she’s still alive. In this dream, he still sees how Zatanna still has her light despite the years of being apart and walking alone in the path of darkness by themselves. That’s one of the biggest differences they have, she will always have the light within her, while Constantine had found his home in the darkness.

            “I’ve walked in darkness my entire life – and I’ve been at home there. But you Zee? You’ve always been my light.”

            The dream ends with Constantine swearing on his life that he will find her, that he will save her with the help of his old team. Zatanna kisses him, and he wakes up with the Nightmare Nurse beside him.

            Dreams can bugger off. He scowls at the Nightmare Nurse and thinks of the sleeping Zatanna in Nick’s apartment all over again. Constantine wants to live long, but he does not want to live long enough to see anyone take away Zatanna Zatara’s light away from her , or to live long enough where he exists in a world without Zatanna.

 

**vii.**

There are very rare instances in which the world has no problem. Where the Justice League Dark – no matter how cringe-y that name makes him feel – is not needed. John couldn’t be more thankful that they aren’t needed anymore. All those days of saving the world tired him enough to the point where all he wants to do is to sit inside the House of Mystery and just stare off in some blank space with a beer.

            With his butt firmly planted on an armchair and his feet crossed, he’s doing exactly _that._

                        A pint of beer is present in his hand and he glares at a bookshelf across him for no reason at all. He’s tired, and he deserves the day off doing god knows what. Deadman is out there enjoying his time in some godforsaken city Constantine couldn’t care less about. Xanadu’s in her room, doing god knows what (but definitely not saving the world, that’s for damn sure). So Constantine feels a little bit entitled to just sit there and do nothing. That’s his post-saving the world celebration.

                        “No celebrations in bars for today?” Her voice rings through the room, all too familiar. His cold exterior melts, and he knows that she could see through him despite his attempts to cover it all up.

                        “I’m afraid not, love. You know what they say, old men like their solitude.”

                        She laughs, and god he swears it’s the most beautiful thing in the world. Their eyes meet and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t see it glow brighter than before.

                        “You’re not that old, John,” She speaks, leaning against the very bookshelf he was glaring at moments ago, “I mean, yeah it’s been years, but you’re not that old.”

                        John raises his eyebrow, inquiring as to what Zatanna meant by those words. “Anything you’d like to say, Zee?”

                        “I’m just saying, maybe it’s not too late to start anew. The world’s doing fine on its own for now, and I’m sure they will need our help again but—I wouldn’t dare do it without you.” She tells him.

                        He keeps his gaze on her, not daring to break that eye contact, “You sure about that?”

                        She walks towards him, and crosses her arms. John feels like this is all a dream all over again, but hopes that it’s not. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

            A smile forms on his lips, the most genuine one he’d ever had since the day he saw Zatanna for the first time. She takes his hand and pulls him up from the chair, whispering a spell to make the pint of beer disappear from his hand. Slowly, she places her hands on his shoulders and she raises herself by standing on the tips of her toes.

            John bends his head down just enough to capture her lips in a kiss.


End file.
